vacationed

Have you ever gone a vacation that is equal parts relaxing but also equal parts "Thank god I picked up a bottle of Xanax from my doctor before we left home"? Because that is the exact kind of vacation we went on recently and I'm honestly still trying to process the whole experience. 

Last Friday we left for Jamaica, which put us flying into south Florida where Hurricane Sandy was sitting off the coast. I'm a nervous flyer to begin with but tell me we're going to be flying into hurricane strength winds and you're going find me shitting my pants while I cry in a corner. I did what any reasonable person would do, I ran directly to my doctor and asked for whatever anxiety medicine she was willing to give me. 

I was secretly hoping that our flights would be cancelled and we would have to vacation somewhere else but that wasn't in the cards. One very bumpy flight and a half a Xanax that did nothing for me later, we were in Ft. Lauderdale. I decided I needed to pull out the big guns for our flight out of Florida so I Dramamined myself and drooled my way through the bumps and drops. 

We landed in Jamaica and faced an island that was wrecked by Sandy. The road to our hotel was barely one lane wide in spots, covered in downed power lines and trees. Our hotel was running on a generator with limited gas and no idea when a truck would be able to bring more. They had food but were worried about supplies running low. It was an adventure. 

Despite all of this, every person we met in Jamaica was amazing, warm, and welcoming. The island was being repaired all around us and everyone seemed to be in good spirits about the situation. How could we not relax and enjoy our trip when everyone around us was so calm? Also, the occasional Red Stripe helped me forgot our lack of wifi and inability to video chat with the kids.

It was a great vacation with more than enough drinks, naps, and meals. I would say we came home refreshed but the trip home was a nightmare of flight changes, hotel changes, and awful car rides. But despite all of that, I would do the trip again in a heartbeat. Jamaica was the perfect combination of just enough things to do so we weren't bored, but not so many options that we felt guilty napping for large parts of the day.